Mutual appropriation of religion in the Volga region It has been mentioned in previous posts how Orthodox missionaries appropriated Mari motifs in church architecture and appropriated Mari sacred springs in order to increase the Church’s influence over the spiritual lives of the Maris. However, it is important to keep in mind that this religious appropriation went in both directions. The Maris were equally capable of appropriating aspects of Christianity into their religion in order to prove to Orthodox missionaries that their religion was legitimate. While missionaries tended to see Islam as being on par with Christianity because Muslims have a holy book comparable to the Bible, they did not see the Mari faith as a genuine religion due to its lack of a holy book. In the early 18th century, the Maris cleverly invented a myth that they recounted to missionaries that “in former times they had a book of religion; but, as nobody could read it, a cow came and swallowed it”. Later in the 19th century, the Maris showed a high degree of awareness of the Christian Bible by presenting their faith to Orthodox missionaries as a religion of the Old Testament. Theirs was a “faith of Adam” or “faith of Abraham”. Although the Russian officials were not impressed by this argument, it had the effect of raising their own self-confidence by giving them a way to invest their traditions with a Biblical sanction without submitting to Orthodox authority. While today, only a small percentage of Maris are “pure” animists, a large percentage confess Orthodoxy combined with Mari beliefs. Instead of seeing them as Orthodox Christians who have retained aspects of animism, it would be equally possible to consider them animists who have appropriated aspects of Christianity and are in fact still fully animist. After all, since the Mari faith lacks a jealous God, it is possible for Maris to incorporate Christian beliefs without betraying their own animist faith. What is notable about the dialogue between the animist Maris and Orthodox Russians is that it caused the two to gradually resemble each other. The longer two cultures are in dialogue with each other, the more they superficially resemble each other (note, for example, the strong Hindu influence in Islamic Mughal architecture). But while two cultures come to resemble each other, they can still maintain a fundamental difference in belief. This phenomenon can be seen when an atheist debates a religious believer – in order to legitimate their argument, they tend to use very similar language, and, although they may appear the same to an outsider, their beliefs are fundamentally irreconcilable. Had missionary activity not ended in 1917, it is possible that the Maris could have built animist churches resembling Orthodox churches – this is what the Lithuanians did in the 14th century to give their animist faith legitimacy in the eyes of the Poles. The dialogue between the Maris and Russians was relatively short compared to the dialogue between the Maris and other Volga peoples. The Maris and the Chuvash have had the longest dialogue which is why they resemble each other more than any other Volga people. The Maris have had a long dialogue with Volga Muslims, but even though the Mari faith has strong superficial Islamic influences, this should not lead one to conclude that their fundamental beliefs were ever reconciled with Islam.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 06:35:52 +0000
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